So here's the deal, I'm fairly new to xwing having only played at my FLGS a few times and I love it, and it fills the nice void between Wild West Exodus and 40K, any way the wife loves Star Wars and having never showed any intrest in gaming before I want to encourage this.

Which brings us to this, she wants to come play at the store with me but loves the Falcon and Oddly enough the HWK and has been yammering at me for about a hour with the story of why they would fly together.

Please help me figure out a build that won't leave a bad taste in her mouth tomorrow.

Han Shoots First with HWK:

Han Solo (46)

+ Luke Skywalker (7)

+ Chewbacca (4)

+ Millenium Falcon (1)

Rebel Operative (16)

+ Ion Cannon Turret (5)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Han with Luke and Chewie in the Falcon is as thematic as you can get, plus you can Evade every round to increase your durability while Luke/Han provide crazy firepower. The ships with Turrets are pretty easy to fly. The HWK simply replaces a Rookie in the classic HSF build. I was going to replace both, but I saw you have only one in your signature collection.

I'd give her the following:

Han Solo + Gunner + Millennium Falcon

Jan Ors + Ion Cannon Turret

Prototype Pilot

Jan will give Han the ability to fire 4-5 dice, plus Gunner and Han's ability will allow her to reroll any amount of attack dice and the Millennium Falcon title will give the YT a little more survivability. Jan also takes an Ion turret to allow her to help with TIE Interceptors, and to frustrate TIE Fighters who happen to be in base contact with the YT (they can't move next turn and will loose their actions).

This really isn't the best list, because the Hawk is a support ship and thus works better in 150pt squads, but this should provide some fun with a really OP Han Solo.

Chewie with Expert Handling, Gunner 49 points

Rebel operative with Blaster and Recon Specialist 23 points

Dutch with Ion turret 28 points

EH on Chewie allows for crazy maneuverability and it drops a TL at the same time.

R.O. does the Blaster with Recon combo but can get a boost from Dutch's free TL to TL/F on each shot and still have a focus for defence.

Dutch passes out free TL to either Chewie or R.O. for better dice odds.

R.O. does the Blaster with Recon combo but can get a boost from Dutch's free TL to TL/F on each shot and still have a focus for defence.

You have to spend one of your two Foci to fire the Turret in the first place, so unless you find a third somewhere, you can't modify both the Blaster shot and you defense.

Han Solo with PTL, falcon title and gunner, rebel operative wih ion and a rookie x-wing. I love running Han this way as PTL gives him focus and evade when he will be shot at or focus and target lock when he is out of arcs. With that set up Han will be scoring 3-4 hits pretty much every round. Hawk gives you some control wih ion and the rookie for more heavy hitting.

Does she have 2 HWKs?

2x Rebel Operative

+ Recon Specialist

+ Blaster Turret

Han Solo

+ Expert Handling

+ Gunner

+ Millennium Falcon Title

Does she have 2 HWKs?

2x Rebel Operative

+ Recon Specialist

+ Blaster Turret

Han Solo

+ Expert Handling

+ Gunner

+ Millennium Falcon Title

Ohh I like that I can grab her a second HWK before she starts

I want to suggest the following:

Chewbacca + Falcon + Gunner + Swarm Tactics

Roark + Ion Turret

Tarn + R2D6 + Swarm Tactics (no second Swarm Tactics I was thinking R5P9)

Should be pretty simple. Chewie moves and Evades counting on Gunner to help lay out the hits. Roark boost the PS on either of the other two ships which then pass it to the other and then back to Roark so EVERYONE gets to "shoot first." Tarn is there because I need the PS 3 for R2D6 to Swarm and because he ability may get him some TLs; could replace with a Red or just drop it to a Rookie and scrap the 12,12,12 shooting but gain five more points to spend.

One of my favorite builds I refer to as Beefy Chewy.

Chewy , Garven, and Ors w/ blaster turret and moldy crow.

The hope is that you move slow and not directly at your opponent. Hopefully Chewy gets into the fight first. Maybe even a range 3 shot before moving in. Now Ors ability works at range 3. So I keep her back skirting the map. Getting stressed then doing a green all awhile building up focuses on moldy crow. Garven will move in with Chewy to strike. If things work out. Chewy moves in and gets a target lock. Garven follows and does a focus. Ors hangs back and does a focus. Combat phase Garven shoots passes focus to Chewy. Ors then takes a stress to give Chewy another attack dice. Range 1 with 5 attack dice a target lock and a focus. Good chance you'll kill something.

Chewy is the meat shield. Now if he dies. Garven and Ors still make a great team. And by the time your opponent gets to Ors she should have plenty of focus tokens to aid in her attacks and defense.

I agree with the blaster turret operative X2.

Rookies have a hard time flying much less getting arcs and the turrets help in that respect.

The only drawback I can see is that if she gets blocked the turret goes down.

Might suggest ion turrets so it doesn't matter as much.

Less damage potential in the short run but less to worry about which makes them more beginner friendly as we'll.

Another bonus is it frees up 4 more points.

A named HWK pilot like maybe Roark to replace the points.

If you run into a phantom the 12 PS will be pivotal.

Does she have 2 HWKs?

2x Rebel Operative

+ Recon Specialist

+ Blaster Turret

Han Solo

+ Expert Handling

+ Gunner

+ Millennium Falcon Title

Ohh I like that I can grab her a second HWK before she starts

Since you're playing HWKs already its not going to be the best list. Honestly 16+5 for HWK+Ion probably isnt as good as an Xwing.

So might as well have fun with it and play 2HWKs.

I think its totally up to you to do Blaster Turret and Recon Spec, or Ion cannons. They should both work. The ion cannon version is like having 2 Y-wings with Han. Which is a real list!

Good luck to her! Best of luck. Much odds in her favor and favorable weather conditions. And of course, skillful flying too. =)

Keep the Falcon alive into the end game, try and bait the opponent into attacking the HWKs. Try and Ion the other ships so that they don't get good shots.

Why would you ever run Rebel Operative when you can run Roark?

For 3 points you choose who shoots first. That's less than the cost between Chewie and Han and then Chewie always shoots first, and you get Chewie, the far superior falcon, or Lando the action passing maniac.(Until Roark dies.)

That said, a Rebel Operative isn't bad, but Roark and Ion is headed for the best Phantom counter in the game slot, and was good before that. He offers fantastic support, and performs just as well as an X-Wing if you use him right.

That said, getting Hawks to fly right can take a lot of work.

Why would you ever run Rebel Operative when you can run Roark?

For 3 points you choose who shoots first. That's less than the cost between Chewie and Han and then Chewie always shoots first, and you get Chewie, the far superior falcon, or Lando the action passing maniac.(Until Roark dies.)

That said, a Rebel Operative isn't bad, but Roark and Ion is headed for the best Phantom counter in the game slot, and was good before that. He offers fantastic support, and performs just as well as an X-Wing if you use him right.

That said, getting Hawks to fly right can take a lot of work.

Now that I think about it... I like this better than my list.

But, what should the last 5 pts be for? I have no idea at all.

Also, I do think Han's reroll do play a role in how good the damage is off Han.

Not sure now.

Roark+ ion

Rebel op + blaster + recon

Chewie+ EH + gunner + MF title

4 pts left. Ya got options.

Roark is my favorite Hwk by far. He was one of the more overlooked pilots, made a bit of splash early in store championships but should be a terror to phantoms.

Does she have 2 HWKs?

2x Rebel Operative

+ Recon Specialist

+ Blaster Turret

Han Solo

+ Expert Handling

+ Gunner

+ Millennium Falcon Title

Arcs? Where we are going we don't need arcs.

Why would you ever run Rebel Operative when you can run Roark?

I agree that Roark is a fairly spectacular pilot, but he doesn't fit in every build. I've been running a list lately with 2x Blue Squadron Pilot + HLC/2x Rebel Operative + Ion Cannon Turret, as an example, and although I could fit Roark it would require dropping an HLC to do so.

I would also suggest that if anyone in your area plays dark curse dont run more than 1 blaster turret otherwise your gona have a bad day

R.O. does the Blaster with Recon combo but can get a boost from Dutch's free TL to TL/F on each shot and still have a focus for defence.

You have to spend one of your two Foci to fire the Turret in the first place, so unless you find a third somewhere, you can't modify both the Blaster shot and you defense.

I goofed on that explanation. It should be have a Focus for the turret OR defence if the TL works to modify the shot to 3 hits/crits.

How about this list with two YTs:

Chewie (42)

ORS with APLs and Gunner (37)

Roark with ICT

ORS shoots first thanks to Roark, with the Gunner and R1 shots can be pretty effective plus the APLs to make your opponent uneasy. Roark adds Ion control, and Chewie is just Chewie, hard to kill and always shooting back.